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Since editors who haven't read the opening line will be adding their personal favorites— or their own gardens— to this list, the opening statement needs to be linked in a footnote to the Ministry of Culture's list (is it on-line?) and some adult editors (not me) should keep an eye on this list, to keep it from being diluted with additions.--Wetman (talk) 20:09, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

I agree - I've added a more specific description of what's in it, and the link to the official list. I'll keep an eye on the list to try to limit it to those officially classified by the French Government. What a wonderful place France is - classifying gardens!SiefkinDR (talk) 19:21, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Contents

Wow, what a Remarkable achievement this page is! Congratulations to SiefkinDR on compiling it. BUT (there always has to be a "but", doesn't there?) it is hugely long (85kb and counting – remember, some people consult Wikipedia on mobile phones!) – and yet it seems to be unfinished from Essonne onwards. With all the beautiful photos and write-ups of the gardens it is very useful, but wouldn't it be better to subdivide it somehow? I suggest a bare (and boring) Wikipedia style "List of the Remarkable Gardens of France" (with a small gallery, or at least one picture, for each section) and a pointer to a Main Article for each section. Then create a main article for each Département, or each Région, which would be a more manageable size, yet still do the subject justice. Not so easy to keep an eye on for vandalism or inappropriate additions, granted, but easier for the reader to cope with, perhaps? SiGarb | Talk 10:47, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

I think you're right - this article has gotten way too long. I'll try to do it as you suggest, breaking it into regions and then departments. In the meanwhile, I'll finish Essone. Thanks for the kind words and the suggestions. SiefkinDR (talk) 18:25, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

"…de rien!" as they say. It's a true labour of love: well done. As a fellow Francophile, and a garden-lover, I'm sure I will find it very useful. You've got me planning my vacances already… Cheers, SiGarb | Talk 23:14, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

The article TOC could be made similar to the one in List of castles in France. Then one has more room for photos and looks cleaner. If no one is against it I will try doing it in the coming days. --STTW(talk) 13:02, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

I agree that this article could look cleaner and needs a different format, similar to the castles of France list, but I hope that it can also include some basic information about each garden - what kind of garden it is (botantical, landcape, a la francaise, etc.) and any special features - one sentence per garden. The name of the garden by itself doesn't give much information, and this page is the only source of information in English where you can scan through and find out a little about each of the most interesting gardens in France, and decide which one are worth visiting.

Another possibility is to divide the page into regions, and have a separate article for each, in addition to the general list, modeled after the castles of France.

I'll be glad to work with you on filling in whatever structure works best. SiefkinDR (talk) 15:41, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure how we could split the article. It might be helpful to make it a List of article, linking separate articles on gardens and as you said with one liners on the garden itself. The number of images on the article has also to be curtailed, that way the article would not look like an album with very little content. I will make a version of the article on my sandbox and will let you know. --STTW(talk) 16:05, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

I have made a draft of the suggestions made above at User:SlaveToTheWage/List_of_Remarkable_Gardens_of_France. The page has been edited only for the Alsace gardens. Highlighting and fancy editing has been reduced, recurring links to external page for images has been moved to external links. On the first glance you see more red links, that is good as we know which articles we need to work on :-) We should try to keep fewer images on the article, perhaps maximum two per region and move more information to the garden specific article. Hopefully this way we can reduce the size of the article and organize the information on the article better. --STTW(talk) 11:56, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

I think this works and it certainly looks better. I'd suggest we go ahead and transfer the gardens into this list, and then can try to turn as many red ones as possible into blue ones.SiefkinDR (talk) 14:26, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

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